South Korean-flagged tanker Hankuk Chemi carrying 7200 tonnes of ethanol escorted by Iranian Revolutionary Guard boats off Oman for polluting the Gulf with chemicals, January 4, 2021 In international diplomacy, while creating narratives, there is a criticality about the timeline over normative values. Iran’s announcement on December 4 that it has begun to enrich uranium …
Continue reading “Biden needs Russia and China’s help to cut Trump’s Gordian knot on Iran”
Iran says it has resumed enriching uranium to 20% purity In his first media interview, the incoming US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan has given a preview of Joe Biden administration’s foreign policy directions in regard of Russia, Iran and China. Major shifts can be expected in the policies toward both China and Iran while …
Continue reading “Preview signals Biden’s foreign policy shifts”
Scene from a ceremony marking the first anniversary of the assassination of General Qassem Soleimani, Tehran, Dec 31, 2020 On the first anniversary of the killing of the leader of Iran’s elite Quds Force, Gen. Qasem Soleimani in a targeted drone strike on Jan. 3, 2020 that was approved by President Donald Trump, something had to …
After seven long years of negotiations, China and the European Union announced on December 30 that they have reached a Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI). It is a hugely consequential event for the world economy and international politics. The agreement is destined to rebalance the trade and investment relationship between two of the top three …
Continue reading “China-EU deal is a reality check for India”
Nepal’s Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli (R) received the vice-minister of International Department of Chinese Communist Party Central Committee Guo Yezhou (L) at Kathmandu, Dec. 27, 2020 There can be no two opinions that China has huge stakes in Nepal’s stability. The leitmotif of the visit to Kathmandu by the delegation from the Chinese …
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (R) met Hamas’s political bureau chief Ismail Haniya, Istanbul, December 2019 (AFP) The upgrade of Turkey-Israel diplomatic ties to ambassadorial level has not come as surprise. Where all can agree is that this is not an extension of the Abraham Accords. In essence, Turkey is posting a new envoy to …
Continue reading “Turkey upgrades ties with Israel. This is why”
The Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov remarked last week that Moscow expects nothing good in relations with a “deeply hostile” US under the incoming administration of Joe Biden. He further said in an interview with the Interfax published Wednesday, “We are heading from bad to worse. The next US president has been left with …
Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) & Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping The joint aerial strategic patrol held by the air forces of Russia and China on December 22 over the Sea of Japan and the East China Sea makes a big statement in the geopolitics of the Asia-Pacific region. Chinese experts have hinted that such events could …
Continue reading “China to strengthen military coordination with Russia”
Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar (L) and Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu (L2); Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitro Kuleba (R2) and Defense Minister Andriy Taran (R) held a press conference after meeting in a ‘2+2’ format, Kiev, Ukraine, Dec, 18, 2020. Turkey under President Recep Erdogan has been variously accused of ‘neo-Ottomanism’, revanchism or radical Islamism. But …
India’s chief of the army staff General Manoj Mukund Naravane (L) met top Saudi generals, Riyadh, December 14, 2020 The recent visits by the army chief General MM Naravane to the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia generated some excitement among Indian analysts that a brave new world of ‘military diplomacy’ has dawned. Bombastic coinages …
